About Me

Although I haven't gotten a western made yet, there's interest in a western series I've created (on paper). If you'd like to take a look at the sort of things I write, please visit my website, www.henrycparke.com. Thanks for looking!

MY Q&A WITH INSP-TV

HENRY ON ‘WRITER’S BLOCK’

On July 30th, 2015, I was the guest of hosts Bobbi Jean Bell and Jim Christina on ‘Writer’s Block’, their L.A. TALK-RADIO talk-show about the art and craft of writing. You can click PLAY to hear it, or DOWNLOAD to download it.

ROUND-UP ON THE RADIO!

Last Christmastime I was a guest on AROUND THE BARN, and had a great time talking about the Round-up, my writing, and Gene Autry’s Christmas music. To listen, click HERE.

Other Stuff I Write

While this blog is strictly about Western stuff, I also write another blog, Stalling Tactics, which is about anything else. If you'd like to read my most recent post, COSTUME DRAMA TRAUMA, go HERE.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

‘SPAGHETTI WESTERNS UNCHAINED’ UNLEASHED!

The Spaghetti Western era was a remarkable time in
film history.With the end of World War
II, the quarantine of American films in once-Axis Europe was suddenly over, and
a decade of movies poured in.When
Europeans wanted even more Westerns, first the Germans and then the Italians raced
to fill the void, and in less than a decade produced more than 300 features set
in the American West.Timed to the
home-video release of DJANGO UNCHAINED, Quentin Tarantino’s western, which has
brought a main-stream awareness of the Euro Western phenomenon, Blue
Underground will be releasing a quartet of their best Euro Westerns as a set
under the title SPAGHETTI WESTERNS UNCHAINED.The choices, the original DJANGO (1966); TEXAS, ADIOS (1966); DJANGO
KILL…IF YOU LIVE, SHOOT!(1967); and KEOMA (1976), could not be better.If you are a spaghetti western aficionado, or
someone getting their first exposure to the genre, these films are a must see.Just as compelling as the movies themselves,
the special features are special indeed.

Tomas Milian stars in DJANGO KILL, but all the
others star Franco Nero.I’ve seen
three or four other companies’ versions of DJANGO, but Blue Underground’s is
undoubtedly the best – no surprise, considering that it’s taken from the original
camera negative!Though never
theatrically released in the United States, Franco Nero is as great a Western
icon in the rest of the world as Clint Eastwood is here, and this is the movie
that made him that way.One of Sergio Corbucci’s
finest Westerns, few who’ve seen it will forget the enigmatic image of the
stoic, mysterious Django walking from the desert into the muddy Mexican
frontier town, dragging a coffin behind him like an albatross around his
neck.Unlike Eastwood’s ‘Man With No
Name’, who also had no past, Django is haunted by his, and his new troubles
begin when he spots a woman being abused by a pack of red-hooded apparent
vigilantes, rescues her, and brings her to a town where neither of them is
welcome.He soon finds himself in the
middle of a battle for control between the military, and a band of outlaws, all
of them after gold. This is a physically beautiful film, making full use of the
Almeria, Spain locations.The score by
Bruno Nicolai, including the haunting theme that DJANGO UNCHAINED fans will
recognize, is stunning.The plot is
clever, the action very exciting and at times brutal.In addition to the trailer, stills and talent
biographies, there is also a fascinating documentary featuring Franco Nero’s
and assistant director Ruggero Deodato’s memories of the making of the film, and
their other work with Sergio Corbucci.

The same year that he starred in DJANGO, Franco Nero
played lawman Burt Sullivan in TEXAS, ADIOS.He brings his undisciplined kid brother with him south of the border, to
track down their father’s killer, who died when they were children.To their surprise, the murderer is now the
most influential and respected man in his town.Directed by Ferdinando Baldi, this movie seems at times more American
than the others in this set.With
excellent plotting, action and production, this film has been rarely seen since
its release, and is an unexpected pleasure.Along with a trailer, there’s an informative interview with Franco Nero.

DJANGO KILL! is not a sequel to DJANGO.With the success of the Franco Nero film, the
name ‘Django’ was added to the titles of dozens of films.Starting with the bizarre sight of Tomas
Milian rising from the grave, he is rescued by a pair of desert-roaming
Indians, and we learn via flashbacks that The Stranger (he’s only called Django
on the poster) is the lone survivor of a falling-out among thieves who had
slaughtered an Army troop that was transporting gold.The gold and the Stranger reach the nearby
town, where thieves and townies fight over the gold.Directed by documentary filmmaker Guilio
Questi, a former Italian Resistance-fighter, he had lived in a world of
violence, and DJANGO KILL! is an astonishingly violent film, with oblique references
to Italian facism, startling scenes of sadism and, implicitly, predatory
homosexuality.Shocked as American
viewers were in 1967, they hadn’t seen it all: some of the roughest scenes,
included here for the first time, are in Italian, with English titles, because
they were cut before the film was dubbed into English.Included
in the special features are a trailer, posters and stills, and a terrific
documentary featuring recent interviews with director Questi, star Milian, and
actor Ray Lovelock.

KEOMA came a full decade after DJANGO and A FISTFUL
OF DOLLARS, when the cycle was considered at an end, the ideas played out.Yet KEOMA is one of the few, one of the last,
masterpieces of the genre.Franco Nero
as Keoma comes back to the town of his birth, to see his father, and finds the
town has descended into a Hellish mess, at least in part because of the
behavior of his three half-brothers.In an
echo of DJANGO, the story begins with Keoma rescuing a woman from a group of
thugs, and bringing her to town, and again, neither are welcomed.But this time, she’s thought to be carrying
the plague, and Keoma’s presence is a threat to his brothers.In an echo of BROKEN LANCE and THE BIG VALLEY,
Keoma is the half-breed bastard son, rescued by his father after all others in
the Indian village were slaughtered.He
was raised with his half-brothers, despised by them as being the favorite.Also prominent in the cast, with one of the
best roles of his career, is Woody Strode, who was a servant at the father’s
house, and an inspiration to young Keoma, but now he’s a drunkard and a broken
man.Directed by Enzo Castellari, the
story and the structure are enthralling, with unusual use of flashbacks that
often have adult Keoma walking through his own childhood.It is Castellari’s favorite of all his films,
and one of Nero’s as well.My only major
criticism is the music: while the melodies are fine, there is frequent use of a
shrill and tone-deaf man and woman who screech out descriptions of actions you
have already seen.In addition to an
interview with Nero, the disk includes wonderful audio commentary by director
Castellari and journalist Waylon Wahl. And in February, director Castellari announced
that he will be making another western, BADLANDERS, with feature roles to be
played by Franco Nero and Quentin Tarantino.The 4-disk set will sell for $29.98.You can learn more about it HERE.

‘VIRGINIAN’ CAST FAVORITES MARATHON ON INSP APRIL 27TH

It’ll be a few weeks, but the folks at INSP have
interviewed THE VIRGINIAN cast members to find their personal favorites among
the 248 episodes, and will be sharing them on Saturday, April 27th.In the meantime, here’s a nice short they put
together, with James Drury discussing the original ‘Man With No Name.’

NEW ‘VIRGINIAN’ ANNOUNCED

Trace Adkins in WYATT EARP'S REVENGE

Ron Perlman in MAGNIFICENT 7

A new film production based on Owen Wister’s classic
novel THE VIRGINIAN has been announced by Nasser Group, North Productions.Set to star in the title role in singer Trace
Adkins, currently on CELEBRITY APPRENTICE and recently seen in WYATT EARP’S
REVENGE.Ron Perlman, currently starring
in SONS OF ANARCHY, and well remembered in THE MAGNIFICENT 7 vid-series, will
take the Lee J. Cobb role of Judge Henry.Also in the cast are Brendan Meyer, Brendan Penny and George Canyon.Film is currently shooting in Canada, with AMERICA’S
MOST WANTED director Thomas Makowski working from a screenplay by Bob
Thiekle.

‘RAMONA’ TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Tickets are now on sale for the 90th
season of the Ramona Pageant, at the Ramona Bowl Amphitheatre in Hemet.Based on Helen Hunt Jackson’s fabulously
popular novel, attending, and participating in this program has been a
tradition for generations of Californians. It’s a remarkably colorful presentation,
with about 350 participants, and only the two leads are usually professional
actors. Some locals have taken part, in various roles and positions onstage and
behind the scenes, for decades. Among the famous actors who have taken part are
GONE WITH THE WIND villain Victor Jory, who played the lead early in his
career, and was associated with the show for years, and Raquel Welch, who
played Ramona in 1959. To learn more, and buy tickets, call 800-645-4465 or go
HERE.

Speaking of RAMONA, on Friday, April 19th,
from 11 a.m. until 3p.m., in conjunction with the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, Rancho Camulos in Piru will be
holding a fund-raising event, Californio
Fiesta de Camulos Rancho!This
beautiful and fascinating rancho is known as the ‘Home of Ramona’ because it
was here that author Helen Hunt Jackson, during a brief stay between trains,
was inspired to write her novel, and set it there. D.W. Griffith, when he filmed RAMONA a century
ago, used Rancho Camulos as his studio.You
can read my story about Rancho Camulos HERE.And on Friday, April 19th you
can enjoy a Southwest Vaquero buffet, music, and
costumed docent-led tours as you step back in time.Entertainer
extraordinaire and the last of the vaudeville cowboys, Sourdough Slim performs
in the Will Roger's tradition.All proceeds benefit the nonprofit museum's mission of
historical preservation and education.The price is $55 per ticket, and you can buy tickets HERE.

QUICK DRAW – A LOOK AT PARAMOUNT RANCH SETS

I am glad to report that my spies are everywhere!After I ran a story about HULU’s shoot four
weeks shooting episodes of QUICK DRAW at Paramount
Ranch (the story is HERE )
I heard from Don Bitz, Paramount Ranch Historian, who sent me pictures of how
the sets were dressed for the shoot.I’m
showing them below, along with a couple of pictures from Mike Gaglio, and
please remember that these are copyrighted photographs, and Mr. Bitz and Mr.
Gaglio retain their rights to them. Notice the two different jails -- Paramount's western street is being used to portray two different towns.

Photo by Don Bitz

Photo by Mike Gaglio

Photo by Don Bitz

Photo by Don Betz

Photo by Don Betz

Photo by Mike Gaglio

Photo of Mike Gaglio

YOU CAN’T KEEP A GOOD WESTERN DOWN!

Deadline: Hollywood has announced that JANE GOT A
GUN, the Natalie Portman western that got slammed when director Lynne Ramsay
quit on the first day, has been shooting for two weeks.Moreover, Jude Law, the villain of the piece,
who quit when Ramsay walked, has just been replaced by recent Oscar nominee
Bradley Cooper.Cooper’s first western
was 2003’s THE LAST COWBOY.Yee-haw!

LORETTA YOUNG DISPLAY AT THE HOLLYWOOD MUSEUM

If you’re going to be in Los Angeles before the end
of April, drop by the Hollywood Museum
in the historic Max Factor building on Highland at Hollywood, and see the
appropriately titled 100 Years of Glamour
and Grace documenting the life and career of actress Loretta Young, who was
so memorable opposite Clark Gable in THE CALL OF THE WILD.The Museum is opened Wednesday through
Sunday, and their other current displays spotlight the careers of Jean Harlow,
Bob Hope, Sonja Henie and many others.Adult
tickets are $15; kids and seniors are less.

MONSTERPALOOZA AT THE MARRIOTT BURBANK APRIL 12-14

Okay, you may think a Monster Show doesn’t relate to
Westerns, but among the guests are Oscar-winner Martin Landau of NEVADA SMITH
and THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL; Duncan Regher, TV’s later ZORRO; Danny Glover of
LONESOME DOVE, SILVERADO and HANNAH’S LAW; Eric Roberts, currently in SIX GUN
SAVIOR; Virginia Madsen of HELL ON WHEELS; and Linda Blair, who may never have
been in a western, but is an excellent horsewoman. It’s $20 a day, and all the stars charge for
autographs, usually starting at $20. To
learn more, go HERE .

THE HOLLYWOOD SHOW,APRIL 19TH – 21ST

This event has moved recently, and stupidly, to the
Westin Airport Hotel from the Marriott Burbank.Among stars of Western interest are Angie Dickinson of RIO BRAVO; Earl Holliman of GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL and THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER; Johnny
Crawford of THE RIFLEMAN; Bobby Crawford of LARAMIE; Charles Dierkop of BUTCH
CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID; and Stella Stevens of THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE.Tickets are $20 a day, and all the stars
charge for autographs, usually starting at $20.To learn more, go HERE.

THAT’LL HAVE TO DO for this week.Next week I’ll have info on the upcoming
SANTA CLARITA COWBOY FESTIVAL, THE TCM FESTIVAL, and much more!Have a great week!